'VERY GRAPHIC'
Russia ‘plans FAKE atrocity video with corpses, blown up buildings & actors playing mourners to spark Ukraine invasion’
RUSSIAN secret services reportedly prepared a FAKE video showing staged explosions and corpses to be used as a pretext for Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.
US intelligence revealed Putin’s henchmen were planning to release footage of a staged Ukrainian attack on Russia or Russian-speakers - showing "graphic scenes" of blown-up buildings and equipment appearing to belong to Kiev or allied nations.
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Actors were believed to have been used in the shocking ruse, posing as troops and corpses.
As British intelligence experts verified the sinister false flag plot, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "This is clear and shocking evidence of Russia’s unprovoked aggression and underhand activity to destabilise Ukraine.
“This bellicose intent towards a sovereign, democratic country is completely unacceptable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Sources said Russia wanted to use the video to accuse Ukraine of genocide — and the resulting outrage to justify an all-out attack.
But it was intercepted before it could go viral.
Russia has strongly denied the US claims of a video featuring staged explosions and corpses, as well as actors, in a stunt to provide an excuse for invasion.
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Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “They have said suchlike previously. But nothing of the sort happened.”
Moscow has denied accusations in the past that it is trying to manufacture a conflict and says it is not planning an invasion but that it could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met.
It's feared Putin could have five potential false flag events up his sleeve to spark Ukraine war - from staged chemical attacks to Hitler’s invasion playbook.
And according to a US official, Putin's special forces have already put in place operatives trained in explosives to carry out a false flag operation.
But after warnings from US intelligence about the alleged fake video, State TV in Moscow claimed that a major NATO-supported attack by Ukraine is "imminent" in the pro-Putin rebel-held Donbas region.
State-run Channel 1 warned: “DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic] and LPR [Luhansk People's Republic] military intelligence is observing preparations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine for an offensive…
“Heavy artillery and hospitals are being deployed, and mobilisation reserves are being formed.”
It comes as Moscow continues to pour troops and heavy military equipment into areas bordering Ukraine as a Russian invasion of Ukraine is feared to be "inevitable and imminent".
Putin could launch a full-scale invasion in a matter of weeks - or even days - to seize territory given up by Russia in the fall of the Soviet Union, it's reportded.
In Russia’s Voronezh region - bordering Ukraine - a Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile and gun complex has been stationed right next to a preschool.
And in the same region a video shows air defence units engaged in war games to repel a mock enemy of Su-34 warplanes in a situation “as close as possible to combat”.
'SIGNIFICANT MOVEMENT'
But Russia has denied any intention of invading Ukraine, despite NATO warning of the biggest deployment of Moscow’s forces in Belarus since Soviet times.
“Over the last days, we have seen a significant movement of Russian military forces into Belarus. This is the biggest Russian deployment there since the Cold War,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
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However, Ukraine has also played down the threat of a Russian invasion.
Defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said “the threat exists, the risks exist, but they have existed since 2014, ever since Russia has become an aggressor.”
Currently, “there are no grounds for panic, fear, flight or the packing of bags”, he said.
It came as Russian bombers probed UK air defences for a second day in a row yesterday.
RAF jets scrambled to intercept the Tu-35 Bears, which can carry nuclear weapons.
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And Ukraine’s top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told The Sun he saluted Britain’s support and revealed he had submitted a shopping list to the MoD for more of our high-tech hardware.
Britain has already sent 2,000 anti-tank missiles to the front line.
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